An unpleasant 10-year-old is monkey-trained by her parents before appearing on TV to read out, from a page in front of her, politically correct fatuities.
Dalrymple’s reaction:
I was appalled by her. She had the air of a prig, a know-all and a robot all at the same time. Clearly she had been tutored, for I do not believe any 10-year-old would have found the date of the introduction of compulsory seatbelts by herself. She was put up to it.
Dalrymple is reminded of
Pavlik Morozov, the Soviet boy who, according to legend, was killed in 1932 by his grandparents after he denounced his father to the authorities. He was reputed to be a fervent supporter of the collectivisation of agriculture. The story was a fabrication, but at least Pavlik was supposed to be 13 at the time of his death.
Little Charlotte’s
head had been filled with ideology about health and something called wellbeing. One could easily imagine her denouncing her parents to the health police for having given her a chocolate biscuit.